helicopter
/ˈhɛlɪˌkɑptər/noun
A rotorcraft lifted and propelled by spinning horizontal rotors
From Greek via Latinized combining form helico- (Spiral).
Lineage
helico-
-pter
The story
The name sounds as though it were built from “helico” plus “pter,” and that is essentially the recipe: one Greek element means “spiral,” the other “wing.” The French hélicoptère was recorded in English in 1861 for a machine meant to rise straight up, using spiral aerofoils; that early design idea did not work. Jules Verne and the Wright Brothers used the word before it settled onto the rotorcraft we recognize today, as helicopters began to be developed by 1918. The “wing” element has airborne cousins such as pterodactyl, while “helix” gives us helical—the same spiral shape, whether in a screw, a staircase, or a rotor. So the word is a tiny blueprint: spiral plus wing, with the machine’s spinning blades doing the explaining.
Modern usage
A crude slang term for swinging the penis in a circle like a rotor.
- Heard in
- sexual slang
Words from the same roots
helico- · Ancient Greek via Latinized combining form, ‘Spiral; winding form’
-pter · Ancient Greek, ‘Wing’
Derivedpterodactyl, pteranodon, pteropod
Sources
- Etymonlinehelicopter, blade, mary, pad, nave
- Urban Dictionaryhelicopter
- Wikipediahelicopter
- Wiktionaryhelicopter, helico-, -pter